A Fruits Basket Whodunit
by totoro
Summary: Try to figure out who killed who in a story about death and deceit!


Authors note: beware, major char death.  
  
The shadow whispered through the trees. Under the cold, pale moonlight, he might have just been mistaken for some sort of animal, or maybe even the wind. They always mistook him for something he was not.  
  
He grinned as his footsteps, soft and airy, made their way up the gritty pathway to his house. He glanced at his hands, the sallow color nearly glowing under the stars, the flesh gripping the bone as if it were to fall off at any moment. He could see the joints gripping harder and harder at the handle he grasped.  
  
No more of this... he thought, smirking. No more of this. I shall end this now. He crept silently up the short staircase into the house. The indigo of his hair flitting against the flimsy paper door covered his eyes as he worked silently, ever heeding the threat of morning.  
  
Light spilled from the interior as he slid the door open. His face flooded with terror as he saw her hunched over at the kotatsu, but quickly realized that she was sleeping deeply. Her short breaths blew against her hand, her eyelids flitting in the deepest of dreams. The soft candle flickered in the breeze, and she shivered, pulling her arms in closer to her chest.  
  
The soft light bounced off of the only weapon he had been able to get his hands on in his flurry of anger. The blade, a dull silver protrusion of a black handle gleamed softly, creating small patches of light that danced over the girl's face. Yes. He would take care of this problem.  
  
He bent over her head, bringing one hand through her soft hair, smelling her scent. Unacceptable. He stroked the hair a moment more, before letting his fingers trail the curves of her face, feel the breath on his hand. The white of his hand against the soft cream of hers contrasted sharply, the light dancing across her petite pink lips. He studied her for a moment before firmly grabbing her hand.  
  
The still eyelids fluttered open in a confused, half-conscious stupor. The blue jewels stared up suddenly aware of the impending danger upon her. "Akito-san?" she said softly. "I didn't know you had come, excuse me! I must have fallen asleep..." he silenced her voice, quickly clamping a hand over her mouth. He smiled half-heartedly as he flicked the knife out from under his wrist. A stifled grunt of surprise arose from her small throat and he slid the clean metal over her cheek, the flesh becoming pimpled from the cools sterility of the blade. He laughed softly and inhaled.  
  
"Honda Tohru-san... no need for apologies..." he grabbed a small handful of her hair and brought it to his face, caressing the silky strands. Her leg muscles strained and began to try to stand, but he shoved a knee into the small of her back, throwing her body forward. His chest heaved with whispered laughter as her head hit the table. "Oh, too bad... I was hoping to get to know you a little better..." he pulled the hair in his fist back so that her head lifted, only to release the strands. As bone met wood in a satisfying crack, and the man turned his attention back to the knife. He wasn't done here... not by a long shot. He drew small, light circles on the newly revealed flesh of "the princess's" neck with the point of the blade.  
  
Lifting the blade slowly and purposefully, he began to prod softly into her smooth skin, leaving a little polka-dot trail of wounds stippling her neck. He quickly tore through the sleeve of her pajama top, and continued his unusual pattern down her arm. The scratches began to seep small amounts of blood, which trailed down her arm, the drops glittering in the unstable flickers of the candle. On her hand, he drew sharply at the knife, slitting a small portion near a vein. The juice dribbled from the gash and onto the table, creating a small pool.  
  
He smiled, his dark features shadowed with the new contours of his cheekbone. "Yes, Tohru-san... know you very well..." he pulled the body backwards onto the floor, leaving the girl's chest and face vulnerable. "How shall I do it, hime?" he hissed, rolling the body roughly over. "hime hime hime..." he clenched his teeth and leaned over the girl's flawless back.  
  
"Shall I slit your throat? Just gouge you wherever? Ah, the choices..." he ran a hand quickly up and down her spine, and felt her give an involuntary shudder. "Afraid, are we?" her breathing suddenly grew faster. "Tohru-san?" he chuckled. "Are you awake?"  
  
She drew her head up, placing a hand on her forehead, and inhaled sharply at the sight of her arm. She began to cry, small noises escaping her throat as she looked back and forth between the man hovering over her and the gashes on her arm. The blood had begun to flow considerably, dripping from her elbow. She tried to scream, but it came out nothing more than a breath of air.  
  
"Tohru, I think you need to tend to those wounds..." he whispered in her ear, waving the knife in front of her face. "And this one..."  
  
He lifted the knife driving it into the body. The girl screamed in horror as he twisted it brutally into the wound, digging deeper. Scarlet liquid soaked through onto his hand, the girl still screaming. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the floor.  
  
Akito gagged. The knife twisting in his spine sent shoots of pain, quickly eased by small pangs of relief. The person hadn't shown his face, and was thrashing at the already open wound with the blade again and again. Akito screamed, and his body joined the fainted princess's on the floor as the room spun. He tasted blood and his head cracked on the tatami as he fell...  
  
Author's note: please review, and I will update pretty frequently, so keep reading to find out whodunit! 


End file.
